


An Offer She Didn't Refuse

by afteriwake



Series: Bones McCoy, Private Investigator [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Case, Best Friends, Cell Phones, Exes, F/M, Friendship, Helpful Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Male-Female Friendship, Missing Persons, Past Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, Phone Calls & Telephones, Pre-Molly Hooper/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Pre-Relationship, Studying, part time jobs, worried Molly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 15:38:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17368658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Leonard offers to back out of their plans for her to study with him to get into the crime labs, but she demures in order to spend the evening with him and not Sherlock. His offer to look into the case of her missing friend, however, is an offer she chooses not to refuse.





	An Offer She Didn't Refuse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreamin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/gifts).



> This fic was asked for by **Dreamin** with the ship McMolly and the sentence prompt _“Sorry, I already had plans.”_

“Sorry, I already had plans.” He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but her tone was so cool it was like the room dipped a few degrees, and he reasoned it was, most likely, Sherlock on the phone. The scoff that followed finished that round of deduction from him. “So what if I have plans with Leonard? It’s none of your business anymore, frankly. You chose your career over me.”

Leonard winced. Yeah, it was true Sherlock had done that, but he must need her help because she looked at him eavesdropping from the doorway and bit her lip. “I suppose you can delay those plans,” he said, noting that even though she should have been pissed, she looked as though she was softening.

She considered for a moment and then shook her head. “No, Sherlock, I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’m the one who needs help and you can’t provide it. I’m sorry.” She pulled her cell phone away and then hung up on him.

“I’m impressed,” Leonard said, pushing himself away from the doorway. “I gave you an out and you still turned him down.”

“Well, you’re planning on helping me go over what I need to do to pass the entry exam for the crime laboratory, so...”

“Are you sure you want to balance both jobs?” he asked as he tilted his head. “I can hire another secretary. Don’t want you burning the candle at both ends.”

She waved her hand. “It’s not a problem. The position at the labs is only part-time, anyway. It’s three days a week assisting in the morgue.”

“Yeah, but once you get your hands in some dead bodies you’re going to kiss your job as my secretary good-bye,” he said, giving her a grin as he went to the couch across from her desk.

“Oh no. The chance to run your life is just far too tempting,” she said with a grin, fiddling with her phone for a moment before setting it aside. “But thank you for this. There aren’t many people who understand all of this and you do.”

She moved to sit next to him and he draped an arm over the back of the sofa, his fingers just brushing her shoulder. “So what exactly do you need me to do?”

“Give me the suggested scenarios that the head coroner could quiz me on and then tell me how far off I am on the answer.”

Leonard nodded and looked at the sheath of papers he was handing her. “Have you even looked at this?”

“I did this job in London, Leonard. It’s almost second nature. Why do you think I was so much help to Sherlock? If Dr. Bishop was here I wouldn’t even need to apply. He’d have just hired me on the spot.”

“Have they found any sign of him yet?”

“No,” she said softly. “He was a good friend and Jim said he’d keep me apprised of any changes in the case but there’s been no word about what happened from him since his car was found.”

Leonard scooted over closer to her and pulled her into a hug. “You know as soon as Jim knows, we’ll know,” he said when he pulled away.

“We?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“Your friend is important to you, and we both know Jim is a good cop, but that doesn’t mean we can’t track down leads ourselves.” He held up the papers. “Let’s go through this, and then you can tell me everything you know about Dr. Bishop’s personal life and we’ll get Jim to tell us what he can, even if it’s just going back over the basics of the case again. Who knows? Maybe we can make an actual difference.”

Molly smiled widely at him and then leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You’re such a good man, Leonard. Thank you.”

Leonard found himself getting warm and was sure the tips of his ears were red. “Yeah, well, don’t tell anyone. It will ruin my rep.”

Molly nodded. “Got it.” She pulled away more, a move that Leonard found he regretted somewhat and then leaned against the other arm. “All right. Quiz me.”

It was his turn to nod and he went to look at the papers. It was slow, and doing this as a favor wouldn’t cost him all that much, as long as Jim went along with it. He just hoped his friend wouldn’t mind the help.


End file.
